Fact check: Five false claims Trump made in one meeting with Erdogan
Trump’s Ankara Meeting: Five Unfounded Assertions Examined
Fact check – During a press briefing on Tuesday ahead of the NATO gathering in Ankara, President Donald Trump presented several inaccurate statements regarding Greenland, American achievements, and his personal record. The Turkish leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was present for the discussion. Among the most timely misstatements concerned Greenland, the semi-autonomous region belonging to Denmark that Trump once again urged Washington to acquire. He asserted incorrectly—repeating a previous assertion—that the territory is “surrounded by China’s ships and Russian ships.” This assertion lacks foundation, as independent analysts and multiple foreign administrations have confirmed.
Greenland’s Maritime Neighbors: A Claim Without Substance
Trump’s assertion about foreign vessels encircling Greenland has been thoroughly dismissed. Independent specialists, Danish military authorities, Nordic country representatives, Greenlandic residents and officials, and American officials—both current and former—have all rejected this claim. According to TV 2, a Danish news organization, the commander of Denmark’s Arctic military forces stated in a recent interview that Chinese and Russian ships were not visible in or near Greenland under normal circumstances.
“Trump’s claim was completely invented,” P. Whitney Lackenbauer, an Arctic security expert at Canada’s Trent University, told CNN in January. He later confirmed via email on Tuesday that this assessment “remains inaccurate.”
While Trump might have encountered classified intelligence indicating certain Chinese or Russian maritime operations near Greenland at some point, such information would not justify describing the territory as “surrounded.”
The Myth of Eight Settled Wars
One of Trump’s most persistent foreign policy misstatements involves his declaration: “You know, I settled eight wars.” This assertion contains numerous flaws. Two entries on his list represent situations that never qualified as actual wars during his presidency: a diplomatic disagreement between Egypt and Ethiopia, and an unclear dispute involving Serbia and Kosovo. Additionally, the Rwanda-Democratic Republic of Congo conflict appears on his list despite remaining unresolved even after a Trump-brokered peace agreement. The Israel-Hamas war is included, yet Israel maintains near-daily military operations in Gaza despite a ceasefire arrangement mediated by the United States. The 2025 Israel-Iran confrontation is also listed, though Israel subsequently participated with the US in launching another conflict against Iran in 2026.
Ukraine Aid: A Significant Overstatement
Trump reiterated his previous assertion regarding Ukrainian assistance: “when Biden was here, he gave them hundreds of billions of dollars worth of equipment.” This figure substantially overstates reality. The Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German research organization monitoring international support for Ukraine, reported that the United States committed approximately $74 billion in military assistance to Ukraine—from late January 2022, preceding Russia’s comprehensive invasion, through April 2026. When financial and humanitarian contributions are included, total American aid reached roughly $132 billion.
The $19.2 Trillion Investment Fiction
Trump also recycled his recurring false statement: “we have $19 trillion, $19.2 trillion to be exact, being invested in the United States.” On this occasion, he specified that this amount represented only the initial twelve months of his current presidency, noting that “so that number is now substantially higher” following nearly eighteen months in office. Nevertheless, the $19.2 trillion figure remains fabricated. The White House website itself stated at the time of Trump’s Tuesday remarks that “major investment announcements” totaled $10.6 trillion during this term—a figure that already exaggerated actual investment levels. A comprehensive CNN investigation published in October revealed that the White House counted trillions in ambiguous investment commitments, many of which concerned “bilateral trade” or “economic exchange” rather than genuine investment within the United States. Some of these statements did not even qualify as formal pledges. Furthermore, federal statistics released last month indicated that new foreign direct investment in the US amounted to approximately $232 billion in 2025.
Additional Falsehoods Noted
Beyond the five primary claims examined above, Trump also repeated his assertion that the 2020 presidential election was “rigged,” another statement that has been repeatedly contradicted by evidence and official findings.
